Guardian Snapshots
by steamfan
Summary: Snipets from the Guardians of the World Universe.
1. Mile High Guardian

Title: Mile High Guardian

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Magnificent Seven or the Sentinel TV shows.

Chris had been right about both Vin and Ezra getting even more involved with activities down in Purgatorio. They were currently up to their elbows in the one thing that none of the Seven would have believed Ezra would be caught dead in; dirt. It wasn't just any dirt either. It was the homemade compost that the people who lived in Vin's building had made for their community garden. They were hard at work screening the compost so that the kids could take the finished product to their parents, mostly mothers, who would put it in their garden beds.

"Whatcha thinkin' bout?" Vin asked. He dumped another shovelful of compost in the screen that Ezra was busy shaking.

Ezra shook the screen over the tiny wheelbarrow that a small girl child was using. She grinned up at him before taking off with the full wheelbarrow. A large bunch of small tools had been an earlier gift that he had smuggled into the garden tool shed. With Vin as a lookout no one had seen them and that meant that the proud mothers would not know who to go to in order to refuse the gift. "I do believe that if a few of the older children were willing to do a bit of scavenging, I think we might be able to put together a way to extend the season a bit. I saw something at one of the estates of one of my dear mother's paramours. He was notorious for his ingenuity at gardening. Of course he had more money to throw at his hobby than a great many people, but I do believe that we could manage a way to enclose the garden beds so as to make mini greenhouses."

"What wouldja need?" Vin asked. Most of these garden beds weren't a hobby for the people in his neighborhood. They were a vital source of food for the families who worked in the gardens. Having the ability to extend the growing season would help but greenhouses were expensive and no one here could afford them.

"Two feet sections of rebar, plastic tubing to fit over the rebar, plastic to go over the tubing and some type of clip to secure the plastic to the tubing," Ezra listed. "My then stepfather had a large enough structure created that he could walk inside but I see no reason that we could not construct something that would be just large enough to protect a single bed."

Vin still looked puzzled, so Ezra concentrated on his memory of the fall that he had spent wandering around the man's gardens. He and Vin had been working on figuring out how to 'show' each other pictures through their bond. Ezra had figured that because they had been able to share memories, that they should also be able to share other things. It turned out that he was right. Vin examined the memory. Ezra's former step-father had created a very simple hoop greenhouse. The idea did seem like it would be workable here. Heck, if they got really ambitious they could figure out a way to cover the entire lot that way too.

He shot back the image of the narrow lot covered in a large rebar and plastic hoop house with little greenhouse hoops underneath. Ezra grinned and pointedly looked at the children with their new tools. Vin shook his head. There was no way that they would be allowed to do that. The tools were pushing it as it was. The ladies in his building weren't stupid and the tools that Ezra had chosen were very high quality and very pricy as a result. Vin had caught the looks the ladies had shot their way when the tools had been discovered in the shed. They knew who it was that had bought the tools; they just didn't have any proof. And Ezra was a master at providing just enough doubt that they couldn't be certain it was them.

Vin looked over the lot next to his building. It was only 30 feet across by 150 feet long. Currently it was filled with families working hard at getting the garden beds ready for the spring planting. The hardest part of enclosing the entire lot would be coming up with the plastic, a single piece that size would cost quite a bit of money. That would have to be researched. The rebar they could practically get for free. The plastic tubing would have to be pvc for strength. He thought that the kids could get short lengths of pvc for the smaller hoops and plastic sheeting was cheep. If they could get the smaller hoops done today, the beds could be planted before the bad weather hit on Monday. The cold tolerant plants were already waiting to be planted.

Carmella stood scowling at the pretty boy who was a friend of Senior Vin. He had come here in a fancy jeans, boots and a t-shirt that she knew cost more than her mother spent on the wardrobes of all five of her brothers and sisters. He was the only one who could have bought the little tools that were just the right size for her little sisters to use. She didn't know whether or not to be pleased or angry that he had given them the tools. He hadn't rubbed it in their faces, which was in his favor. On the other hand, there was no way that he didn't have an agenda. He was rich and no rich man came down here without wanting something. She just couldn't figure him out and that didn't set well with the teenager.

"Carmella!" Vin called. She wandered over but didn't stop staring suspiciously. "I need a good scavenger to go out and get some stuff." He repeated Ezra's list. She nodded and left, taking with her a group of her friends. This was a much better job than digging in the dirt for their moms. Plus, everyone knew that Vin didn't ask for things unless it was important. They were glad to help the man who worked so hard to make their community a better place.

Neither of the two men were blind to the girl's animosity but they ignored it. Ezra would have to prove himself and that took time; time that Vin had already invested. Not that Ezra hadn't been there before, he'd come and helped out along with the rest of Team Seven. But as far as the people living here were concerned, they were still strangers while Vin was the one who looked after them. It would take time for the people of Purgatorio to see them as Sentinel and Guide.


	2. Reactions

Title: Reactions

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Sentinel or Bones.

Special Agent Seeley Booth froze on the steps up to the lounge where he knew he would find Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian, otherwise known as 'Bones'. She was his unofficial partner in his cases for the FBI and was in charge of the group of squints that he worked with most often. While it was a rare day when he found them not discussing subjects that left him lost and confused, rarely did they do so at the top of their lungs. He inched up the last few steps and leaned over to whisper in Angela's ear, "Do I want to know?"

Angela was the artist that recreated the faces of the victims that they investigated. She had also designed the holographic image machine that she used for both identities and incident recreations. Quite often the bodies brought to this institution had no faces, being either severely decomposed or just bare skeletons. "You heard about the 'Supercops'?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, my boss wants me to get tested because I was a sniper. Apparently I've got a higher chance of having a few enhanced senses." Booth wasn't too sure what to make of that. On the one hand he knew that the best of the best among snipers really had to be Sentinels. There was no other way to explain the odd things that he had seen them do. On the other hand he wasn't too sure he wanted to be one of them. He had liked hanging around them but the idea that he might be one didn't quite sit right.

"Well it's a huge deal in the scientific community," Angela explained. "Not only did Dr. Sandburg prove that Sentinels are real when everyone in Anthropology had said they were just a figment of Burton's imagination, he did so while he was a grad student. Nothing like being shown up by a grad student, plus there was the way the media got a hold of the information. Our good doctors are a little bit pissed off at Rainier University. Dr. Sandburg did not turn in his dissertation, the diss got leaked to the press, etc., all of which means that Rainier committed multiple ethics violations. They also committed some very serious violations in protocols and other scientific-y things," Angela wound down looking confused for a moment. "I didn't really understand that part.

"Anyway, so Zach's all smug on behalf of grad students everywhere. He's thrilled that another grad student found something so revolutionary. Hodgins couldn't care less because it isn't his field but he's upset on Dr. Sandburg's behalf, despite the outcome. You know him and his conspiracy theories. Dr. Goodman is trying to squash Zach and Hodgins at the same time as he's trying to get Brennan to give up a few of her skeletons for a new exhibit. Brennan isn't budging on her skeletons because no one can prove the bones belonged to a Sentinel. Dr. Goodman is telling her she can't prove they weren't. They were important warriors and that's what Sentinels were in tribal societies. And I'm trying to stay low," she finished with a grin.

"Sounds like a good idea," Seeley said with an answering grin. Squints could be dangerous he knew, especially his squints. These were the people who built a bomb just for kicks to see if they could beat the FBI forensics team in recreating a bomb that took out a car. Bones was one of the few who were actually physically dangerous as she was quite knowledgeable in martial arts but he knew that the others were more than smart enough to do a lot of non physical damage should they so be inclined. After his stint in the Rangers he had a deep rooted fear of practical jokes due to one Vin Tanner. He had no desire to find out what these guys could come up with. It was the last time he had reason to smile for the next week. His boss sent him off to Dr. Sandburg's new Sentinel and Guide Center to get tested.


	3. Guide Talk 1

Guide Talk 1

Disclaimer : I do not own anything from: The Sentinel or Stargate SG1

Major Samantha Carter of the SGC stuck her head in the door of her teammate Daniel Jackson's office, "Hey Daniel, can I have a minute?"

"Sure Sam," he said distractedly slowly flipping his way through a large loose leaf notebook. It was the Guide's Guide, a reference notebook kept by the Guides who were bonded partners to a Sentinel. It was also what Sam had come to talk to him about.

"Daniel," she said and waved her hand in front of his face. She was as much amused at herself as she was at him. She knew that she needed such measures to get her attention as often as he did. He looked up at her startled. "There you are!" she joked. "I have something that I think you and the other Guides could use. Now I know that you use this," she patted the notebook in front of him, "to help you out when researching problems and I know that all of you have promised to try and keep each other updated so that if there is a problem everyone can be warned about it. But I thought that you could use something a little more," she waved her hands, "I don't know, interactive?" She pulled out a laptop and presented it with a flourish.

"Sam, what did you do?" Daniel asked suspiciously. Samantha Carter was the most brilliant physicists on the planet and more than once her skills had saved untold lives. But there was the flipside to it as well, she loved poking at things she didn't understand and had more than one experiment blow up on her.

She laughed. She knew what was going through his mind. It was the same thing that went through the minds of her teammates every time either of them had touched something in an old alien temple. 'Was something about to a) explode, b) make some kind of physical changes to them, or c) be the answer they were looking for'. "It isn't going to blow up on you Daniel, I promise. It is a secure and encrypted network. It can't be hacked by anyone on this planet. I had the best hacker that I know of try for over two weeks and he or she couldn't get through the first layer of protection."

"He or she?" Daniel asked as he took the laptop.

"Yes, I don't know whether Guns'n'Roses is male or female, young or old, but there is no doubt that Roses is in the top five hackers in the world if not the best. If Roses can't hack this network, no one can." Sam said proudly.

"Ok, walk me through it."


	4. Guide Talk 2

Guide Talk 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Sentinel, Due South or Stargate SG1. Bl'aan and Cl'een are my own creations.

"So let me get this straight, this does kinda like a chat room thing, only it doesn't hook up ta any computer other than one already hooked up ta it?" Ray Kowalski asked. He was looking at the laptop computer that was laid out on his kitchen table.

"That's right, plus the entire system is encrypted. No one who isn't involved in Sentinel and Guide matters and doesn't have a secure pass into the system can get in. That way you can talk about things that you don't want to have advertised, like zone outs or any problems that your Sentinels have that might be embarrassing." Samantha Carter was personally delivering and setting up the laptops. She sat next to Ray at the kitchen table pointing out features on the two laptops in front of them. One was for Ray and Fraser, the other laptop was to be sent to Canada for Maggie and Ray Vechio.

Ray had been surprised to find a woman in full military dress uniform at his door that morning. He had been even more surprised to find out that she was part of Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson's team. He had learned about Jack and Daniel from Blair so he knew who they were. He had even talked to Daniel over the phone about dry cleaning uniforms. It seemed that Jack and Fraser were the only two Sentinels that had to deal with wearing a uniform day in and day out. Daniel had wanted to know how Ray had dealt with the chemical exposure and if Fraser had gone through anything similar to the resulting rash that Jack had.

Fraser had, had the rash and he'd been absolutely miserable for days. The only way that Ray had found to deal with that headache was for Fraser to hand wash his uniform and if it was absolutely necessary for him to dry clean it, to have it hang up and air out for at least three days before Fraser wore it, outside on the fire escape. Fortunately for them, everyone in the neighborhood knew Fraser and his uniform. Ray knew, although he wasn't supposed to know, that the neighborhood kids had taken it upon themselves to mount an honor guard over it while it hung up outside. No one would touch it while they were on watch.

"You're sure no one can hack this stuff?" Ray asked suspiciously. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe her but this was Fraser's safety that they were talking about.

"Absolutely," Sam reassured him. "They all have some very classified technology that makes them completely unhackable. Only three people on the planet can get into the system and I'm one of them. The other two are hard at work designing systems like this and are too busy to wonder about my little personal project." Plus there was the fact that it didn't use the internet, but Ray didn't need to know about that. If someone was to try and hack into it, they had to be physically present in order to do it. When she had Guns'n'Roses try to hack into one of the laptops she had actually sent one to him/her, along with her standard job offer.

"What if they find out about it?" Ray wasn't about to budge on the safety issue.

"Colonel O'Neill and Daniel saved both of their lives. They won't raise a finger to help anyone who would hurt their personal heroes," Sam reassured him. The fate that SG1 had saved those two technicians from was horrible beyond words and they were well aware of it. 'Personal heroes' was close enough for Ray to hear. Closer to the truth was that Bl'ann and Cl'een worshiped the ground that SG1 walked on. None of them could come close to the twin aliens without the two doing some serious bouts of personal servitude. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy having her lunch delivered now and again, but when the twins literally crawled down the halls carrying it into her lab; it was a little too much for her. It had taken Daniel weeks to get them to stop going to such extremes. At least she knew without a doubt that the twins would rather have their hearts (all four of them) pulled from their bodies rather than give away any information that would be harmful to SG1.


	5. Baby Talk

Baby Talk

I don't own the Sentinel but I do own Holly.

This is for Cassandra30. She was the one who got me to thinking about Sentinel babies.

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"Yes ma'am. Sentinel babies need silk sheets in their cribs. You need to line their blankets with something just as soft or wrap them in the blanket completely if their sense of touch is spiking."

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"Organic baby food only. That's right ma'am. Gerber has a very good product line. Yes, I'm aware that they're a big company ma'am. No, I don't think that you need to go with one of the pricier brands. Yes, locally grown is always better but Gerber is a good, solid and dependable company. If they say that they only use organic ingredients in their organic line I'm sure that they're telling the truth. Yes ma'am. No ma'am they don't pay anyone here at the Center. We research as many name brands as we can ma'am. Yes ma'am the ones that make the list have been tested on Sentinels."

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"Nursing is a must ma'am. Sentinel babies are much too sensitive to formula. Yes, you should keep your diet to organic as much as possible. Meat is perfectly ok ma'am as long as it is cleared with your doctor. Just try and keep things organic and hormone free as possible."

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"Lullabies are fine as long as they are low and soothing. Try some thing that relaxes you, if she doesn't like traditional ones. 'Sweet Baby James' was my brother's favorite as long as my father sang it to him. Yes, low and soothing, no violins or high notes."

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"Any baby detergent should be just fine. You just need to avoid dry cleaning. I'm sorry but I'm not sure how to clean silk without dry cleaning but I believe that 'Woolite' has a web site that should cover that information."

"Sentinel and Guide Center, my name is Holly, how may I help you?"

"NO! Don't ever burn candles in a baby's room! If the room needs to be aired out, open the window slightly and avoid drafts near the baby's crib. That's what blankets are for ma'am. Avoid cleaners with strong smells when cleaning and that should help. Yes ma'am we have a list of Sentinel safe cleaners on our web site."

Dr. Blair Sandburg limped into the Sentinel and Guide Center lobby on crutches, a little reminder of his latest encounter with a less than pleased criminal. He found his receptionist, Holly Whitaker banging her head on her desk while chanting 'I can't kill her. I can't kill her.' over and over. He smiled and moved up to her desk. "Mrs. Jansen again?" he asked.

Holly nodded without raising her head from the surface of her desk. "I know she's pregnant Doc, but I'm not sure just how much more I can stand!"

Blair patted her on the shoulder. "It's only for another few weeks. The baby's due date is next Thursday so she'll be born soon. Once the baby gets here Mrs. Jensen will stop freaking out and she'll stop calling."

"And what if the baby is a Sentinel?" Holly whimpered.

Blair sniggered, "Then she'll be my problem. Why don't you take a break and let me man the phones for a while?" Holly jumped up, threw her arms around Blair and then flat out ran straight out the front door. There was no doubt that she was going to get as far away from the phone as she could.

Blair shook his head before sitting himself down at Holly's desk. The poor woman was expecting her first child but she couldn't really be all that bad, could she? "Sentinel and Guide Center, this is Blair, how may I help you?"


	6. Visitors

Mail Call

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Due South, The Sentinel, or Stargate SG1

Visitors to Inuvik, Canada were a big deal. Not only was the local population under 3,000 people and thus most of them had the small town gossip mentality, as far North as they were visitors outside of the small tourism industry were rare; which was why as many people who could were crowded into Mike's Place where their Sentinel Maggie Makenzie and her Guide Ray Vechio were meeting with her brother Benton Frasier, who was also a Sentinel and his Guide Ray Kowalski. Benton and Kowalski were carefully ignoring the fact that those around them were doing their best to stare without getting caught.

Frasier and Kowalski had made it a point to keep in contact with Maggie and Vechio, both to cement the bond between the siblings who hadn't met until they were both adults and so that their Guides could get to know one another. "How cold can this thing get?" Vechio asked, pouring over the laptop on the table in front of him.

Kowalski smirked. "Don't tell me, log cabin with no running water, no electricity, no heat 'cept for a wood stove?"

"Oh, so you've seen Benny's place?" Vechio snarked back. The two Americans grinned at each other. While Inuvik was a real town, with the afore mentioned amenities, they both knew that Benton Frasier was not someone who had ever deemed them necessary. "Nah, my Maggie knows I'm not up for living like that year round. We got a place at the edge of town and a cabin further out for when living in town gets to be too much for her."

"It'll be ok to leave out as long as you're inside. If you take it on the trail with you, make sure you take the case that goes with it. Sam said it was insulated to something Kelvin, I'm guessing that means that the little heater in it can keep up with the winters up here." Kowalski shrugged. "She knew this one was going to you so I'm sure she took the weather into account. Daniel says she's pretty smart in the field, not just in a lab."

Vechio nodded, "And security?"

Kowalski smirked again. "She works at the Mountain, Vechio. I think we can trust her when she says that no one can hack it. She's looking after her CO, ya know."

"The Mountain?" Maggie asked Frasier, puzzled by the emphasis Kowalski had placed on the words.

"Ah, he is referring to Cheyenne Mountain, where the American Military base NORAD is. It is quite literally built under a mountain, thus the nickname for the base. I was quite surprised that a Sentinel could function in such an unfriendly environment, but Colonel O'Neill says he finds it reassuring." Both Maggie and Benton looked horrified, shuddered in unison and took a drink of their twig tea.

For both Sentinels, raised in one of the largest and least populated wilderness areas of the world, living and working in the intense, crowded and terribly confined space of a large military base was unnerving. It was hard enough for Maggie to visit Benton in Chicago. Adding in the claustrophobic aspect of being further underground than either had ever been was enough to give them both nightmares.


	7. Protection is love

Title: Protection

Fandoms: Sentinel and Magnificent Seven

Disclaimer: I own nothing of either fandom, or of the items mentioned here. The protection items mentioned are, however, available for purchase on the web.

Inspired by Starwinder's "You have a backup what?"

The time after their return from Cascade, WA had been to be truthful, rather boring. The local gunrunners and other such scum seemed to have taken a vacation, at least in the Denver area, so Team 7 had been stuck with the selling of alcohol to minors by merchants cases. This was of course, because their youngest member of the team, although in his early twenties, could still pass himself off as a teen. Thus Vin, Ezra and Buck were stuck in the surveillance van while JD went and tried to purchase alcohol at several different establishments – very routine, and very boring.

Buck was passing the time by playing with the equipment. While he was not the computer whiz that his partner was, Buck did have enough expertise in surveillance that he could, and did, manage to not only capture the deals done by JD but also managed to find every woman passing within range of the cameras. Fortunately for Buck's continued health, both Sentinel and Guide knew that the man would never even dream of taping the women or taking it any further. The simple fact was that Buck loved women – all kinds, shapes, sizes, and ages and would never want to harm any of them in any way. Most of the time he even had a hard time dealing with female suspects. He was happy just watching them walk down the street.

Vin was keeping an ear out for trouble and trying his best to relax in the presence of his Guide in spite of the close quarters of the van. The very fact that he now had a Guide, that Ezra was his Guide and that they were finally properly bonded was enough to blow the quiet sniper away. That he was back in his own territory and things were as quiet as they got, simply made the time he had to reflect on the changes in his life all the more precious. Then he noticed the change in Ezra's heartbeat.

"Ez?" he asked, all of his senses going on alert, trying to pinpoint the danger to his Guide.

"I do believe that I have found the perfect gift to thank Professor Sandburg for his help," Ezra said with a smile.

Vin looked over his shoulder at the laptop Ezra was currently using to surf the web. "What's that?" he asked, looking at the backpack on the screen. He knew that the Shaman often used a backpack, but he couldn't see anything special about this one.

"This, my dear Sentinel, is the very latest in bulletproof casual accessories. It is large enough to provide room for anything that the Professor might need to carry including his laptop, is water proof," the other two men in the van traded nods and sighs at the reminder of Cascade's frequently rainy weather, "only weighs 20 ounces more than a similar backpack and most importantly has no identifying marks to indicate that it has such protection built in," Ezra said smugly. "From what I had heard about the Cascade police station Professor Sandburg is the proverbial trouble magnet and needs as much protection as those who care for him can provide. I thought that this and perhaps a note to Sentinel Ellison on where to find such things as bullet proof under shirts and slash resistant jeans might not go amiss."

"Too bad you can't find such things in your style Ez," Buck said, adjusting the cameras once more. "It'd help settle Chris down if he knew that you had some protection under those fancy suits of yours when you refuse to wear your vest."

Vin snickered as Ezra drew himself up proudly. "My dear Mr. Wilmington, I abhor gambling and as such leave nothing to chance. The bullet proof vests that the ATF provides are much more suited to a person of your stature. They are bulky and completely obvious, not something that can be hidden upon my person. You will find if you care to look that the majority of my clothing and as many of my accessories as can be modified have such protection built in."

Buck looked like someone had hit him over the back of the head. "Buck," Ezra said, taking pity on the explosives and surveillance expert, "until recently I had no one that I trusted to watch my back. While I now have six brothers to do so, protecting my person allows me to watch your backs."

Buck suddenly looked at the jacket hanging off of the back of his seat. It had been a present from Ezra last Christmas, one of six such stylish jackets that perfectly complemented the men they had been chosen for. Vin nodded as the big man made the connection. "Chris' leather vest?" Buck asked the Sentinel, referring to another gift from the closed mouth southerner.

"Chris' leather vest and barn jacket, the bugout bags, Nate's EMT bag and jacket, JD's motorcycle wear, Josiah's laptop case and twill jacket for court, your tropical shirt, everyone's court dress shirts and slacks, and of course when Ez had my buckskin jacket 'fixed'," Vin confirmed.

"Well, damn! Thanks Ez," Buck said.

"It was nothing, Mr. Wilmington," Ezra answered easily, returning his attention to his laptop. "Merely watching out for my brothers as I know they are watching out for me." It had taken just over a year for the undercover agent to realize that Team 7 really was watching his back as fiercely as they did each other's, but once he had realized there had been no going back.

Buck was amazed as much by Ezra's admitting that he cared as by what the man had done. That bonding thing that Sandburg had done for Vin and Ez had done what the rest of the team had tried and failed to do for the last year and a half – convince the man that he was not only part of the team, but their family as well. "You know, I think that we all owe Ellison and Sandburg a bit of thanks. Do you think that you can find something on there that the whole team can pitch in for? Maybe a remodel on that classic of Ellison's like your ma did for your jag?"

The jag was the one thing that kept the team from lynching Maude Standish every time she tried to pull something that would take their brother from them. She had purchased a brand new, top of the line jaguar and had it completely rebuilt: bullet proof panels and glass, puncture proof tires, and the car was lo-jacked, not to mention what other little surprises she might have put in that Ezra had forgotten to mention. She might not have approved of her son wasting his God-given talents as an undercover agent, but the car would protect him until she could get him away from such a dangerous occupation. In her own way, it was proof of her love for her son.

"Such a venture would prove to be quite cost prohibitive," Ezra warned.

"I don't think it would pinch too hard if we split it seven ways," Buck said. "Besides, those guys get shot at more than we do." Vin and Ezra shared a glance and then nodded. Buck was right.


End file.
